House Of Mara's Troubles
by FearlessAndRed
Summary: My version of Season 3. Mara is fed up with being left out, something bad is happening to Poppy and what ever did happen to Vera?
1. Mara's Thoughts

**Disclaimer: I do not own House of Anubis.**

**Chapter One: Mara's thoughts.**

Mara Jaffray. It wasn't a very common name, quite a special name, but nobody seemed to think Mara Jaffray was very special. Well, that's what Mara thought anyway as she sat in her parents' car on the way back to Anubis House for a new term of school. She knew Jerome thought she was special (at this point she smiled and a familiar funny feeling returned to her stomach) but what did everyone else think? She pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind, she was just being silly. She was just nervous about going back to school, that was all.

Well, she hoped so, she hoped she was just being silly. She hoped it was just nerves. She hoped it wasn't her instinct telling her something. Telling her there was something significant about the fact that everyone seemed always seemed to disappear. Everyone always seemed to leave her out.

But there wasn't anything significant about that. Of course there wasn't. She was just being silly…


	2. Mara's Happiness and Concern

**A/N: Hello and welcome to my new story! I hope you liked the first chapter. Thank you to everyone who read my last story "10 Days", I'm glad so many of you liked it! And to those people who's comments I couldn't reply to I say: "Thank you!". Now, just FYI, in my version of Season 3, Nina doesn't leave and there are no new characters. Well, not as many as there are in the actual Season 3 and they don't have such a big impact. This story will probably be completely different to the actual Season 3. I hope you enjoy! x**

**Chapter 2: Mara's Happiness and Concern.**

When everyone had arrived at Anubis House and unpacked (apart from Jerome, who'd sent a text to Mara saying "Going to be late getting back to school. Poppy took ages to pack her suitcase. Typical. x") they sat down to dinner.

"Where's Jerry?" Eddie asked.

"Late." Mara and Alfie both said at the same time then laughed.

**Line Break.**

About halfway through dinner they heard the door to the house open and close and Trudy went to the door saying "Hello, darling! You go have some dinner; I'll put your suitcase in your room."

Jerome made his way into the room and Mara's heart rate picked up and she smiled as he sat down next to her.

"Hello." He said, smiling down at her.

"Hello." She gazed up into his eyes.

"Oi, mate." They broke their eye contact to look over at Alfie, who had spoken.

"Don't want to break tradition now do we?" Alfie held out his hand, Jerome smiled, holding out his and then they proceeded to engage in a very long and complicated handshake. Everyone groaned, knowing this would take a while and they were getting in the way of dinner, apart from Mara (who liked Alfie and Jerome's friendship, Alfie kept Jerome from getting to down about things, she was also too happy at seeing him again to really mind) and Amber (who was checking her reflection in a hand mirror, while sneakily glancing at Alfie, she thought he was adorable when he was doing handshakes, or anything really).

**Line Break.**

Later that night, Mara and Joy sat on their beds in their room, Mara already getting ahead in the book they were going to be reading in English that term and Joy was typing something on her laptop. Patricia was downstairs with Eddie; they were competing with each other about something or other.

There was a knock at the door, Joy looked up and Mara said "Come in!"

Jerome came in and Joy went back to her laptop, uninterested.

But Mara put her book down as Jerome sat at the end of her bed, _very_ interested.

Jerome pulled out a wrapped, small, box-shaped, present from behind his back and handed it to her, saying "Back-to-school present."

Mara took the box and carefully began to unwrap it. When the wrapping paper was off she carefully lifted the lid off and inside the box was a necklace. It had a thin gold chain and at the end was purple and gold butterfly. "Gosh, Jerome. This is so pretty." She looked up at him. "Thank you. It's amazing."

"I'm glad you liked it." Then, as they heard Victor give his "It is 10 o' clock" nightly speech, Jerome said "Goodnight, Mara." He kissed her on the cheek and got up to leave.

"Night, Jerome." Mara said back and he left. Smiling (she couldn't stop) she put the necklace on. Then she looked up at Joy who quickly looked back down as if she'd been watching Mara, which she had.

Mara got up and sat at the end of Joy's bed. "Are you okay, Joy?"

Joy looked at Mara with a bit of a funny look on her face. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine…"

"Are you sure?" Mara persisted.

"Yeah… Yes. Yes I'm fine." Joy nodded.

"Okay." Mara went back to her bed and continued reading.

Mara Jaffray may have been oblivious to Jerome's feelings for quite a while. She may have still been pretty oblivious to what Sibuna were up to, and the fact that they existed. But Mara was clever. Mara knew when people were lying. And Joy Mercer was lying.


	3. Mara's Worries

**Chapter 3: Mara's Worries**

The next evening at dinner Mara noticed something that made her worried. As she walked into the living room to sit down at the dining table she noticed everyone stopped talking for a second, as if they had been talking about her or about something they didn't want her to know. Then they began a new conversation about schoolwork... which wasn't something they usually talked about. Especially not on the first day back. As Mara sat down next to Jerome he noticed her frown.

"Are you alright?" He said quietly.

She looked up at him and gave a small smile. "Fine."

But Jerome was just like Mara, he could tell when people were lying.

But before he could say anything Alfie spilled a drink over Amber and she screamed. "Alfie! This blouse is new!"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" He picked up the glass and passed her the kitchen roll. "I'll buy you a newer new one?" He suggested.

Amber's expression softened and she smiled at him. "Aw, thank you Alfie!" She kissed him on the cheek and went back to eating dinner. And just like that everything went back to normal at the dining table. Well as normal as you can get at Anubis House...

**Line Break**

Later, after dinner, everyone was sitting around the common room, talking in small groups. Mara broke her conversation with Jerome to go and get a drink of water in the kitchen. Trudy was in there, trying to organise several things that had been left on the kitchen counter.

"Want any help Trudy?" Mara asked.

Trudy looked up and smiled, slightly relieved to receive some help. "Oh, thank you Mara. Could you take these books up to Victor's office?" She handed Mara a pile of dusty, old books and Mara wobbled slightly under their weight, but agreed to take them anyway.

As she walked through the living room to get to the hallway Nina went up to her and asked "Mara, what are those?" pointing at the books.

"Oh, nothing. Just some things Victor left lying around that Trudy wants cleaned up." Mara smiled, oblivious to the thoughts racing through Nina's mind.

As soon as Mara was out of the room Nina spun round to face the others. "What is Victor doing leaving old books like that lying around?" She asked them.

"Nina I'm sure it's nothing." Fabian reassured her. "If there was something going on he wouldn't leave them lying around, would he?" Nina nodded, thinking Fabian was probably right.

Mara stood outside in the hallway, very confused. She wouldn't usually eavesdrop, she knew it was wrong... but something, her instinct possibly, had told her too. It was because of earlier when she'd walked in on everyone and they'd suddenly stopped talking. It had reinforced her thoughts from yesterday when she'd been travelling in her parents' car... Was there really some reason why everyone was always leaving her out? And now that she'd heard what Nina and Fabian had just said she was even more concerned. Why were they worried about Victor and these books? What could possibly be going on that involved Victor?

Mara went up to Victor's office, which was empty of Victor for some reason, placed the books on his desk and left to go back down to continue her conversation with Jerome. One thought in her mind, she had to discover what this big secret was... and fast.


	4. Mara's Friend Poppy

**Chapter 4: Mara's Friend Poppy**

As Mara opened her locker on the second day back at school, she heard someone call out her name. She turned to see Poppy walking towards her.

"Hello Poppy!" Mara said, giving Jerome's sister a hug. "How are you?"

Poppy seemed to think about this for a moment before stammering "Oh, I'm... f-fine. How are you?"

Mara decided to ignore the stammer for now, it was probably just nothing. "I'm good, thank you." she said as she sorted out her locker. "So, what lesson have you got now?"

"Um... Geography..." Poppy said, obviously distracted. She glanced behind Mara and obviously saw something she had been hoping not too. Mara turned around to see what she was looking at but only saw a hall full of students, nothing out of the ordinary. But when she turned back around Poppy still looked uncomfortable. "Look Mara, I... I better go. I'll see you around!" and before Mara could say anything she had disappeared into the crowd of people.

"Strange..." Mara said to herself. She pushed her questions to the back of her mind, telling herself she could investigate later.

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short. I'm just trying to get back into the habbit of writing this story. Hopefully there'll be more chapters soon, thank you for reading! Xx**


	5. Mara's Operation Mystery

**Chapter 5: Mara's Operation Mystery**

"Jerome." Mara said, sitting down next to him in their first lesson.

"Hey." He said, smiling. Taking her hand and giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

Mara smiled, happy that they got to do that. Then frowned as she said, "Jerome, your sister is acting strange."

"And? That's nothing out of the usual." Jerome joked.

"No, I mean-" Mara was about to explain when Alfie appeared infront of their desk.

"Mate, can we have a word?" He pointed with his thumb into the corridor where Mara could see the rest of the Anubis students standing together in the hallway.

"Can't it wait? We literally have a minute until lesson starts." Jerome said.

Alfie made a face, as if to say "Not really." Jerome sighed but agreed and left the room with Alfie. Mara frowned again. Did Jerome not want to know about his sister? Maybe he'd already forgotten what they were talking about.

Then Mara had an idea. She pulled out her journalist notebook and in a new section wrote:

_Operation Mystery_

_Objectives: _

_Discover what Nina Martin, Fabian Rutter, Amber Millington, Alfie Lewis, Patricia Williamson, Eddie Miller, Joy Mercer and Jerome Clarke's secret is._

_Information Discovered:_

_- Victor is somehow involved._

_- Jerome is reluctant to take part._

"What are you writing there, Jaffray?" Jerome asked, making Mara jump. He sat down next to her, raising his eyebrows.

Mara quickly closed the notebook and put it away in her bag. "Oh, I just though of a new idea for an article." she lied easily (Jerome must've been having an influence on her).

Jerome narrowed his eyes, suspicious of her, but decided to not ask anything more for now.


	6. Mara's Date

**Chapter 6: Mara's Date**

"So, a date after school, Jaffray?" Jerome asked, leaning over Mara with one hand above her head on the locker which she was leaning on.

"I would love to." she smiled up at him.

Jerome lent in and his lips were a milimetre away from hers when someone said "Jerome, we need to talk."

Mara closed her eyes in frustration. When she opened them she saw the rest of the students from Anubis House standing there. Nina was infront of them all, with crossed arms, looking annoyed at Jerome.

"Can't you see I'm a little busy?" He said, gesturing between himself and Mara.

"But it's important, we need to talk about-" Nina's eyes flickered to Mara. Mara noticed.

"You only talked to me about two hours ago, Nina. Sometimes 5 minutes a day with you is more than enough." Jerome said and everyone's eyes widened. Mara coud tell a bit of his old, more mean, self was slipping through because he was annoyed. She took his hand, the one that wasn't still resting above her head on the locker, in her's. His expression softened. "Apologies, Nina." He turned to Mara. "Go wait for me in the drama room, I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay." Mara nodded. She made sure to give Jerome quite a long kiss on the lips before she went though.

Later that day, Mara walked down the stairs of Anubis House, dressed in a simple white dress and shoes, to find Jerome (dressed in a white shirt and black trousers and shoes) and Alfie having a whispered argument in the hallway.

"What's the matter?" She asked, reaching the bottom of the stairs and coming to stand next to Jerome.

Jerome glared at Alfie and said "Once again, Alfie and the Scooby Doo gang are insisting that they need to talk to me._ But I'm busy_."

"Alfie, what do you really need to talk to him about? You've all been talking with him all day." Mara said kindly.

"Well..." Alfie didn't know what to say. So he tried to lie. "It's just there's this... project, um, for school... and, er, Jerome said he would help us. The project... it's due in tomorrow."

Mara raised an eyebrow. "What subject is this? I might be able to help."

"Actually Mara, we have a date to go on. So, they can go do their project _without me_." Jerome insisted. Alfie looked a bit disappointed so Jerome added "Sorry mate, but I've got to spend my time equally between you and Mara, and the grand total of time I've spent with Mara isn't an awful lot."

Jerome took Mara's hand and they turned to go but then Alfie said "Just remember what Nina told you this morning." and Jerome froze.

Mara looked between the two. "Why, what did she say? Jerome, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He looked at Alfie. "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel our date." He looked down at her.

She let go of his hand. "Don't worry. Go."

So Jerome followed Alfie to Nina's and Amber's room, where Sibuna were meeting, and Mara stood alone in the hallway, wandering what Nina could have possibly told Jerome.

While Mara was trying to get it into her head what Nina said, Jerome was trying to get it out of his head. He'd been trying to ignore it because it couldn't be true. _It couldn't be_. But he still had to help Sibuna just incase it was true. Just incase the sentence echoing around his head was right.

Just incase Vera was coming back.

Just incase Vera was coming back for Mara.


	7. Mara's Life at Stake

**A/N: Sorry if the chapters of any of my stories are a bit short, I am working on making them longer. I promise I do try. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Xx**

**Chapter 7: Whatever it Takes**

_Operation Mystery_

_Objectives: _

_Discover what Nina Martin, Fabian Rutter, Amber Millington, Alfie Lewis, Patricia Williamson, Eddie Miller, Joy Mercer and Jerome Clarke's secret is._

_Information Discovered:_

_- Victor is somehow involved._

_- Jerome is reluctant to take part._

_- Alfie said "It's just there's this project for school and Jerome said he would help us. The project is due in tomorrow." to cover up for what's really happening._

_- Nina said something to Jerome that made him change his mind._

_- Whatever's going on takes up a lot of time because they are always wanting to talk to Jerome._

Mara finished adding to her notes and put her pen away in her pencil case. She was sitting on her bed having changed into her pyjamas since she wasn't going out on a date with Jerome anymore. She couldn't help but wonder, what would she hear if she eavesdropped on the others? But she knew she shouldn't, it was wrong. But she was having trouble of persuading herself of that, she had to keep repeating it to herself in her head.

_Eavesdropping is wrong._

Meanwhile, in Nina and Amber's room, the discussion was getting more serious.

"What did you mean, this morning when you said that Vera might be coming back for Mara?" Jerome asked Nina as he leant with his back pressed against the window.

"I think, because Mara was the one who wrote that article about her, she might be coming back to make sure no one starts to think that what Mara wrote and said was right. Because, obviously she disappeared that night we found the mask which could look quite suspicious. Even if you didn't know anything about the mystery then her random disappearance would still look suspicious. So, she'll be trying to remove any major traces of her being here so no one starts to go and look for her. And Mara could be quite a big trace." Nina explained, sitting cross-legged on her bed.

"She wouldn't... she wouldn't try and kill Mara, would she?" Alfie asked.

Nina bit her lip. "I think, the least she will do will be something like kidnapping her or wiping her memory... but... she could possibly go as far as that."

Jerome turned around to face the window and stared outside, he didn't want anyone to see how scared he was.

"We have to do something." Patricia stated.

"We have to find out where Vera is and what she's planning to do before she actually does it." Nina said and everyone nodded their heads in agreement even though the same thought was running through all their heads.

_But how?_

Jerome turned from facing the window and said "Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes." They all repeated.

"Sibuna." Amber said, raising a hand to one of her eyes.

"Sibuna." They all repeated, doing the same gesture.


	8. Poppy's Troubles

**A/N: I have decide to create a schedule as to when I will be updating my multi-chapter stories. It will be in effect from next week and of course may change whenever I finish a story. The most up to date version of the schedule will be on my profile so if you ever get confused as to when I'll be updating my stories, go to my profile. Any other one-shots or stories will be uploaded at any time and are not associated with this schedule. The schedule will be as follows:**

**Mondays: Quick Kisses**

**Tuesdays: I Think it's Best if We Both Stay**

**Wednesdays: The Way They Were**

**Thursdays: House of Mara'sTroubles**

**Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Xx**

**Chapter 8: Poppy's Troubles**

Mara sat in Biology the next day thinking, but not about biology. After all, she'd already read ahead in the text book and knew everything the teacher was telling them. And she needed to think about something else. She was wondering if she should just give up investigating what the others were doing, she felt like she wasn't getting anywhere. And what if she was just being paranoid? What if they weren't up to anything at all?

Mara shook her head, they were definitely up to _something_. But maybe it was something she wasn't meant to be involved in? She didn't know anymore, she just felt confused... and tired, she hadn't slept well last night. She decided she'd think about it more when she was less tired.

Jerome spent most of Biology glancing at Mara every so often from his seat next to her. She had a glazed over look in her eyes and a small frown line between her eyebrows. He was worried about her, she'd seemed upset last night after he'd had to cancel their date and she'd been relatively quiet ever since. Not to mention the fact that someone very dangerous could be after her.

At the end of the lesson, they went out into the hallway and to Jerome's locker. Jerome watched Mara stare into the distance as he sorted his books in and out of his locker.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Mara looked up in surprise as if she'd only just realised he was there. "Uh... yeah. I'm fine. I'll be back in a minute. Just... going to the bathroom." She gestured in the direction of the toilets and then walked away. Jerome frowned after her and then went back to sorting out his locker.

Mara walked into the toilets, telling herself that she needed to get a grip, and then froze. Three girls were standing infront of the wall opposite her, their backs to her, and against the wall, underneath the hairdryer, was another girl lying on the floor, but Mara couldn't quite see who it was because the other three were blocking her from view. Mara stood for a moment, unobserved by the group of girls.

"So, loser. Are you going to talk to me like that again?" Said the girl in the middle of the three standing up.

"N-no." The girl on the floor stammered. And Mara's stomach plummetted to the floor. She knew that voice. She knew exactly who that was. After a second of shock, anger started to boil up inside her.

Mara's heart hammering in her chest, she stepped forward and said "Excuse me."

The three standing girls whipped around to face Mara. "Yes?" The middle one said.

"Well, it's just I'd prefer it if you didn't go around bullying people." Mara said, with more confidence than she felt.

"And who do you think you are?" The girl said, stepping forward. The other two either side of her crossed their arms threateningly.

"Not that it's any of your business, but Poppy, the girl _lying on the floor_, has a brother, Jerome, and he happens to be my boyfriend. So, Poppy is a very good friend of mine and I would do _anything_ to protect her." Mara said, a determined look on her face. For some reason, she didn't care that these girls may have been in Poppy's year but were still as tall as her and she didn't care that they were very menacing. All she cared about was that she _hated_ these girls.

"Oh, _anything_?" The three girls moved forward slightly.

"You try it and I'll get you expelled quicker than you can plead stupidity." Mara said venomously.

The three of them looked like they thought about beating up Mara but then decided against it. The middle girl muttered "Whatever." and then they pushed past Mara and walked out.

Mara quickly rushed over to Poppy and knelt beside her. "Poppy, are you okay?"

Poppy slowly sat up and lent against the wall. Mara noticed that her lip was bleeding and there was a cut above her eyebrow, she was also holding her stomach and Mara guessed that one of the bullies had kicked her there. "I'll be fine." Poppy said.

"Poppy." Mara said in a slightly severe but motherly tone. "Why didn't you say anything? How long has this been happening?"

"Could you help me clean up? Then I'll explain." Poppy looked as if it hurt to talk, as she winced with every word.

Mara pressed her lips together. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the nurse, or the hospital even? You look really hurt."

Poppy shook her head, wincing as she did so. "No, I'm sure I'll be fi-" but then she cried out in pain, clutching her stomach again.

"Poppy, I am going to get a teacher and we are going to take you to the hospital." Mara said, both determination and worry in her voice.

"O-okay." Poppy stammered, before crying out in pain again. Mara could see tears of pain in Poppy's eyes and it broke her heart.


	9. Mara's Whispers in the Hallway

**A/N: This is quite short but I wanted to get it up tonight and I promise the next chapter is going to be _much_ longer and I know because a lot's going to happen in it. Enjoy this chapter! Xx**

**Chapter 9: Mara's Whispers in the Hallway**

Mara and Jerome walked through the doors of Anubis House later that evening after returning from the hospital where Poppy was. The three bullies had wounded Poppy quite badly but they had been reassured by the doctors that, after a couple of days rest at the hospital, she would be fine and Poppy and Jerome's dad, John Clarke, was staying at the hospital overnight to be near Poppy.

But even though everything looked like it was going to be fine, neither Jerome nor Mara looked slightly happy when they walked through those doors. Jerome was worried. Mara had not said a word to him all afternoon. She'd spoken to Poppy, John, the doctors, the nurses, everyone but Jerome... and he didn't know why.

Which is why, before Mara walked up the stairs in the hallway, Jerome grabbed her wrist and whispered to her (so the others, who were sitting in the living room, wouldn't hear) "Mara, you haven't said anything to me since we were at the lockers, what's going on?"

Mara glanced down at Jerome's hand on her wrist but didn't make any move to remove it. She looked up into his eyes, a determined look on his face. "Jerome, I'm sorry but you've been so preoccupied with, as you call them, the "Scooby Doo Gang" that you didn't even realise that there was something wrong with your own sister! I mentioned the other day that something strange seemed to be going on with Poppy but the second Alfie told you they needed to talk to you, you were off and you hadn't paid any attention to what I said. Poppy is your _sister _and I am your _girlfriend_ and you just don't seem to have _any_ time for either of us. For goodness sake, it got to the stage where Poppy had to be in _hospital _for you to realise something was going on." Mara was whispering too but quite angrily.

Jerome sighed, running his free hand through his hair. He had been feeling guilty about all of what Mara had just said. And he had to admit, if he had spent a proper amount of time with Poppy he probably would have noticed what was going on and they might have been able to stop it before it got to the stage it had. "You're right. Completely right." He said.

Mara blinked, she hadn't been expecting him to say that. "Oh."

"Yes, and I am completely and utterly sorry. I apologise sincerely." He took his hand from Mara's wrist and placed both hands on Mara's shoulders. He prepared himself to tell quite possibly one of the biggest lies he'd ever told "This... this project with the others, I promise it is nothing important and has nothing to do with you and I promise it will be over soon." He didn't want to lie to Mara but he suspected Mara had become suspicious and he wanted to stop her from acting on her suspicions. The next thing he said was not a lie. "I promise you that I will start spending much more time with you and Poppy... infact, I will completely dedicate the whole of next Saturday to the both of you. In the morning, we'll go and spend time with Poppy and dad at the hospital and then we can spend the afternoon together. How does that sound?"

For quite possibly the first time all day, Mara smiled. "Thank you. That sounds wonderful." And to Jerome's surprise, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. Jerome moved his hands from her shoulders to her waist and pulled her close. Wrapping her arms around Jerome's neck, Mara thought happily that maybe everything _was_ going to be okay, like the doctors said it would be.


	10. Mara's Day Without Trouble

**A/N: The calm before the ****storm...**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Mara's Day Without Trouble**

Mara walked into her room on Saturday morning, a towel wrapped around her head as she had just had a shower. She was dressed in dark blue skinny jeans, a short sleeved lilac blouse and grey brogues and was about to use a hairdryer on her hair before leaving with Jerome to go and visit Poppy in hospital. But then she glanced over and saw Joy sitting on her bed on her laptop, she looked rather lonely.

"Are you okay, Joy?" Mara asked, going to stand at the end of Joy's bed.

Joy looked up from the laptop screen. She contemplated lying and saying she was fine but, really, what was the point? "Do you have time to talk?" She asked Mara.

"Of course." Mara said, concerned and moving to sit infront of Joy.

"Well," Joy started, closing the laptop and moving it to the side. "I just feel... I mean, I am happier than I was last term but... I just feel like everyone's paired up and I haven't got anyone, I mean, Eddie and Patricia, Fabian and Nina, Amber and Alfie, you and Jerome... you guys are all together and I know I don't _need_ a boyfriend but... what am I supposed to do when you're all off being all... couple-y?" She shrugged and Mara smiled sadly at her.

"Joy, not all of us are going to be, um, "couple-y", as you put it, at once. If Patricia's with Eddie then you can always spend time with me and vice versa. And I'm sure one day you'll meet some wonderful guy who's perfect for you." She said and Joy nodded.

"I suppose you're right. Thank you, Mara." Mara smiled and got up to go and dry her hair, but then Joy added, "And you know, after everything last term, I am sorry, right? I wasn't in the best of places."

Mara smiled at her again. "I know, I'm glad we're friends again, Joy."

"Me too." Joy said. "And Mara, just... be careful."

"Oh... Okay." Mara frowned, not exactly sure what Joy meant, but then shrugged it off and went to find her hairdryer.

**Line Break.**

"...and then, Nick pulled the most ridiculous face and everyone burst out laughing." Mara laughed at the end of Poppy's story as Poppy sat up in her hospital bed and Mara sat in a chair beside her. John and Jerome had left the ward Poppy was in to go and get drinks, leaving Poppy and Mara to talk to each other.

"Mara, do you know what's going to happen to Hetty, Ash and Jess? The girls... you know, from the other day..." Poppy chewed the end of one of her fingernails nervously when she mentioned the three girls who had attacked her in the girls' toilets.

"Poppy, don't do that." Mara scolded, taking Poppy's hand away from her face. Poppy mumbled that she was sorry and then Mara continued. "And yes, I do. Mr Sweet told me to tell you that they were being expelled, so you don't have to worry about them anymore."

Poppy smiled, relieved, and Mara smiled back.

**Line Break.**

"So, where to next?" Mara asked Jerome as they walked down the street, hand in hand, after visiting Poppy in the hospital.

"I was thinking, somewhere for lunch and then maybe to the cinema?" Jerome said, smiling down at her.

"Sounds perfect." Mara said, smiling back. "You know, Jerome, I've missed you. I mean, I know we live in the same house but we haven't had much of a chance to see much of each other."

Jerome let go of her hand only to put his arm around her shoulders. "Aw, Mara missed me!" He smirked.

"Jerome, you're supposed to say that you missed me too."

"Well, of course I do. I thought that it was so obvious it didn't need to be said." Jerome said and Mara smiled happily up at him. They stopped walking and lent towards each other. As they were kissing Jerome felt his phone go off in his blazer pocket, but he turned it off without looking to see who it was and without pulling away from Mara.


End file.
